Rugby Union World Cup 1987

Rugby Union World Cup 1987
host	Australia and New Zealand
World Champion 2nd place 3rd place	New Zealand France Wales
Duration	May 22 - June 20, 1987
Nations	16
Games	32
Top scorer	Grant Fox (126)
Most attempts	Craig Green and John Kirwan (6 each)

The 1st Rugby Union World Cup took place from May 22 to June 20, 1987 in New Zealand and Australia . The New Zealand All Blacks , who beat the French Les Tricolores in the final in Auckland, became world champions .

At the beginning of the 1980s the idea of ​​a world championship came up, but was rejected in 1983 at a meeting of the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby ). The Australian and New Zealand federations then independently drafted a letter calling on the IRFB to hold a World Cup. In 1985 this idea was accepted despite opposition, especially from the Irish and British delegation members. Australia and New Zealand consequently organized the first World Cup. The decisive vote came from the South Africans, who supported the project even though they knew that a boycott of apartheid would make it impossible for them to take part in the competition.

Venues

21 games were played in New Zealand and 11 in Australia.

city	Stadion	country	capacity
Auckland	Eden Park	New Zealand	45,472
Wellington	Athletic Park	New Zealand	39,000
Christchurch	Lancaster Park	New Zealand	36,500
Dunedin	Carisbrook	New Zealand	35,000
Rotorua	Rotorua International Stadium	New Zealand	35,000
Napier	McLean Park	New Zealand	30,000
Brisbane	Ballymore Stadium	Australia	24,000
Sydney	Concord oval	Australia	20,000
Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium	New Zealand	17,000
Hamilton	Rugby park	New Zealand	?
Palmerston North	Showgrounds oval	New Zealand	?

qualification

The seven members of the International Rugby Football Board were automatically eligible to participate . In addition to the hosts Australia and New Zealand, these were France and the Home Nations : England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. South Africa , another member of the IRFB, was banned from participating in the World Cup in 1984 because of its apartheid policy; however, national teams of other participants also played games against the Springboks afterwards . There was no qualifying tournament for the other nine starting places. The teams from Argentina, Fiji, Italy, Japan, Canada, Zimbabwe, Tonga and the USA were invited by the organizers. No invitation was sent to Samoa, although his team was better placed in the (then unofficial) world rankings than those of Tonga. The USSR team was also invited, but the Soviet federation declined to participate in the tournament as a political protest against South Africa's continued membership in the IRFB. Instead, the Romanian team received this starting place.

Africa  Zimbabwe America  Argentina  Canada  United States Oceania  Australia  Fiji  New Zealand  Tonga

Asia  Japan Europe  England  France  Ireland  Italy Romania  Scotland  Wales

Preliminary round

There were two points for a win, one point for a draw and no point for a loss. The two best teams in each group qualified for the quarter-finals.

Group 1

	country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Table points
1.	Australia	3	3	0	0	108: 41	+ 67	6th
2.	England	3	2	0	1	100: 32	+ 68	4th
3.	United States	3	1	0	2	39:99	- 60	2
4th	Japan	3	0	0	3	48: 123	- 75	0

May 23, 1987	Australia	19: 7	England	Concord Oval , Sydney

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May 24, 1987	Japan	18:21	United States	Ballymore Stadium , Brisbane

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May 30, 1987	England	60: 7	Japan	Concord Oval, Sydney

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May 31, 1987	Australia	47: 12	United States	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane

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3rd June 1987	Australia	42:23	Japan	Concord Oval, Sydney

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3rd June 1987	England	36: 6	United States	Concord Oval, Sydney

Group 2

	country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Table points
1.	Wales	3	3	0	0	82:31	+ 51	6th
2.	Ireland	3	2	0	1	84:41	+ 43	4th
3.	Canada	3	1	0	2	65:90	- 25	2
4th	Tonga	3	0	0	3	29:98	- 69	0

May 24, 1987	Canada	37: 4	Tonga	McLean Park , Napier

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May 25, 1987	Ireland	6: 13	Wales	Athletic Park , Wellington

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May 29, 1987	Tonga	16:29	Wales	Showgrounds Oval , Palmerston North

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May 30, 1987	Canada	19:46	Ireland	Carisbrook , Dunedin

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3rd June 1987	Ireland	32: 9	Tonga	Ballymore Stadium , Brisbane

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3rd June 1987	Canada	9:40	Wales	Rugby Park Stadium , Invercargill

Group 3

	country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Table points
1.	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	190: 34	+ 156	6th
2.	Fiji	3	1	0	2	56: 101	- 45	2
3.	Italy	3	1	0	2	40: 110	- 70	2
4th	Argentina	3	1	0	2	49:90	- 41	2

May 22, 1987	New Zealand	70: 6	Italy	Eden Park , Auckland

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May 24, 1987	Argentina	9:28	Fiji	Rugby Park , Hamilton

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May 27, 1987	New Zealand	74: 13	Fiji	Lancaster Park , Christchurch

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May 28, 1987	Argentina	25:16	Italy	Lancaster Park, Christchurch

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May 31, 1987	Fiji	15:18	Italy	Carisbrook , Dunedin

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June 1, 1987	New Zealand	46:15	Argentina	Athletic Park , Wellington

Group 4

	country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Table points
1.	France	3	2	1	0	145: 44	+ 101	5
2.	Scotland	3	2	1	0	135: 69	+ 66	5
3.	Romania	3	1	0	2	61: 130	- 69	2
4th	Zimbabwe	3	0	0	3	53: 151	- 98	0

May 23, 1987	Romania	21:20	Zimbabwe	Eden Park , Auckland

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May 23, 1987	France	20:20	Scotland	Lancaster Park , Christchurch

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May 28, 1987	France	55: 12	Romania	Athletic Park , Wellington

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May 30, 1987	Scotland	60: 21	Zimbabwe	Athletic Park, Wellington

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June 2nd 1987	Romania	28:55	Scotland	Carisbrook , Dunedin

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June 2nd 1987	France	70: 12	Zimbabwe	Eden Park, Auckland

Final round

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	New Zealand	30th
	Scotland	3
					New Zealand	49
					Wales	6th
	England	3
	Wales	16
									New Zealand	29
									France	9
	Fiji	16
	France	31
					France	30th			Game for third place
					Australia	24
	Australia	33							Australia	21st
	Ireland	15th							Wales	22nd

Quarter finals

June 6, 1987	New Zealand	30: 3	Scotland	Lancaster Park , Christchurch Referee: David Burnett (IRL)
	Attempts: Whetton Gallagher Elevations: Fox (2) Penalty Kicks: Fox (6)		Penalty kicks: Hastings

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June 6, 1987	Australia	33:15	Ireland	Concord Oval , Sydney Referee: Brian Anderson (SCO)
	Attempts: Burke (2) McIntyre Smith Elevations: Lynagh (4) Penalties: Lynagh (3)		Attempts: MacNeill Kiernan Elevations: Kiernan (2) Penalty Kicks: Kiernan (1)

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June 7, 1987	Fiji	16:31	France	Eden Park , Auckland Referee: Clive Norling (WAL)
	Attempts: Qoro Damu Elevations: Koroduadua (1) Penalty Kicks : Koroduadua (2)		Attempts: Rodriguez (2) Lorieux Lagisquet Elevations: Laporte (3) Penalties: Laporte (2) Dropgoals: Laporte (1)

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June 8, 1987	England	3: 16	Wales	Ballymore Stadium , Brisbane Referee: René Hourquet (FRA)
	Penalty Kicks: Webb (1)		Tries: Roberts Jones Devereux Elevations: Thorburn (2)

Semifinals

June 13, 1987	Australia	24:30	France	Concord Oval , Sydney Referee: Brian Anderson (SCO)
	Attempts: Campese Codey Elevations: Lynagh (2) Penalty Kicks: Lynagh (3) Dropgoals: Lynagh (1)		Attempts: Lorieux Sella Lagisquet Blanco Elevations: Camberabero (4) Penalty kicks : Camberabero (2)

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June 14, 1987	New Zealand	49: 6	Wales	Ballymore Stadium , Brisbane Referee: Kerry Fitzgerald (AUS)
	Tries: Kirwan (2) Shelford (2) Drake Whetton Stanley Brooke-Cowden Elevations: Fox (7) Penalty Kicks: Fox (1)		Tests: Devereux increases: Thorburn (1)

3rd place match

June 18, 1987	Australia	21:22	Wales	Rotorua International Stadium , Rotorua Referee: Fred Howard (ENG)
	Attempts: Burke Grigg Raise: Lynagh (7) Penalty: Lynagh (2) Dropgoals: Lynagh (1)		Attempts: Roberts Moriarty Hadley Increases: Thorburn (2) Penalty Kicks: Thorburn (2)

final

June 20, 1987	New Zealand	29: 9	France	Eden Park , Auckland Referee: Kerry Fitzgerald (AUS)
	Attempts: Jones Kirk Kirwan Raise: Fox (1) Penalty Kicks: Fox (4) Dropgoals: Fox (1)		Attempts: Berbizier Elevations: Camberabero (1) Penalty Kicks : Camberabero (1)

World Champion 1987

New Zealand
(First Title)

statistics

Teams

team	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Points	tries	elevated Ungen	criminal kicks	Drop goals
New Zealand	6th	6th	0	0	298	43	30th	21st	1
France	6th	4th	1	1	215	34	26th	8th	1
Australia	6th	4th	0	2	186	26th	20th	12	2
Scotland	4th	2	1	1	138	22nd	16	6th	0
Wales	6th	5	0	1	126	20th	11	5	3
England	4th	2	0	2	103	15th	11	7th	0
Ireland	4th	2	0	2	99	13	10	7th	2
Fiji	4th	1	0	3	72	8th	5	9	1
Canada	3	1	0	2	65	8th	3	8th	1
Romania	3	1	0	2	61	6th	2	11	0
Zimbabwe	3	0	0	3	53	5	3	9	0
Argentina	3	1	0	2	49	4th	3	9	0
Japan	3	0	0	3	48	7th	1	5	1
Italy	3	1	0	2	40	5	1	4th	2
United States	3	1	0	2	39	5	5	2	1
Tonga	3	0	0	3	29	3	1	5	0
total	32				1621	224	148	128	15th

Most points scored

rank	player	team	position	Games	tries	elevated Ungen	criminal kicks	Drop goals	Total
1.	Grant Fox	New Zealand	Connection half	6th	0	30th	21st	1	126
2.	Michael Lynagh	Australia	Connection half	6th	0	20th	12	2	82
3.	Gavin Hastings	Scotland	Goalkeeper	4th	3	16	6th	0	62
4th	Didier Camberabero	France	Connection half	5	4th	14th	3	0	53
5.	Jonathan Webb	England	Goalkeeper	4th	0	11	7th	0	43
6th	Guy Laporte	France	Connection half	3	2	11	3	1	42
7th	Paul Thorburn	Wales	Goalkeeper	6th	0	11	5	0	37
8th.	Michael Kiernan	Ireland	Inner three quarters	3	1	7th	5	1	36
9.	Severo Koroduadua Waqanibau	Fiji	Goalkeeper	4th	0	4th	9	0	35
10.	Hugo Porta	Argentina	Connection half	3	0	3	9	0	33

Most attempts made

rank	player	team	position	Games	tries
1.	Craig Green	New Zealand	Outer three-quarters	5	6th
	John Kirwan	New Zealand	Outer three-quarters	6th	6th
3.	Mike Harrison	England	Outer three-quarters	4th	5
	Matthew Burke	Australia	Outer three-quarters	5	5
	John Anthony Gallagher	New Zealand	Goalkeeper	5	5
	David Kirk	New Zealand	Half of the crowd	6th	5
	Alan Whetton	New Zealand	Winger	6th	5
8th.	John Jeffrey	Scotland	Winger	3	4th
	Matt Duncan	Scotland	Outer three-quarters	4th	4th
	Hugo MacNeill	Ireland	Goalkeeper	4th	4th
	Alan Tait	Scotland	Inner three quarters	4th	4th
	Didier Camberabero	France	Connection half	5	4th
	Ieuan Evans	Wales	Outer three-quarters	5	4th
	Patrice Lagisquet	France	Outer three-quarters	5	4th
	Laurent Rodriguez	France	Outer three-quarters	5	4th
	David Campese	Australia	Outer three-quarters	6th	4th
	Denis Charvet	France	Outer three-quarters	6th	4th

Web links

• 1987 Rugby World Cup . In: World Cup Web . Sports Digital Media, 1987,accessed May 1, 2018.